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Forum:AI too easy
I am playing freeciv on hard AI and it is too easy - I win every time no matter how many AI's there are except where I get wiped out very early. I have defined as follows (and these are just a few thoughts of which there are plenty); I build cities to size 30 & all mine are 20+ - at the same time I rarely see an AI city above size 5 - guess who wins !!!!! I can have say 6 cities and still defeat everyone else from a base of only 6, mainly because my 6 cities are producing more than everyone else's 100. As I take the AI cities my base just gets stronger and theirs weaker, in fact it would be better if I just destroyed each city i took, all they end up being is a drain on my funds and it takes so long to get them up to the right size that they still are not there when I conquer the final city.. Because the AI cities never reach a good size, they cannot support many engineers, for example, I can have 6 engineers per city and more overall than an AI with over 50 cities. My area is obviously much smaller and so I can develop it much quicker. I am putting rail everywhere for the benefits it brings - the AI does well to even marry its cities with rail and never rails everywhere until very late in the game. Now I never allow them to get that late. The AI doesnt ever develop cities to their full potential. I am astonished to find that AI cities never have factories, nor maunfacturing plants nor any kind of power facility even though they have the technology. One of the first improvements I build in a city is the factory, the AI never builds a factory, nor a manufacturing plant nor an offshore platform, nor a power plant. The AI wastes its money on buyiing troops to excess without actually defining what it needs in terms of cities. AI Cities only get so big (to size 4-5 and then never progress. The Ai doesnt understand the concept of defense - it just seems to rely solely on numbers not on strategy. All it does is try to put as many of the most defensive unit it has into its city. It doesnt have a good mix and doesnt know how to attack the attacker. and doesnt understand that a strategically placed unit outside of a city may be suicidal for that unit but gives warning of attack and aloows for a counter attack. This isnt helped by a lack of rail which means AI movement of troops is really slow, compared to my speedy advance and reinforcements. The AI seemingly never attacks unless either its attack strength is at least equal to the force it is attacking or it is within a city. It doesnt seem to understand the concept of multiple attacks by weaker units outside of a city in order to get rid of a strong unit. For example, I can protect 3 engineers with 1 mobile infantry and so long as I am not next to an enemy city, I wont be attacked. The AI doesnt seem to understand the concept of defending against flight, except to build Sam sites. I can put a stealth bomber next to an AI city who then just ignores it unless it has a stealth fighter. Even though the AI may have the technology, no effeort is made to defend against stealth. The AI never develops the land within a city if it is arable. It only builds mines in cities and only if the land is suitable for mining. I try only to choose arable land for a city itself and always develop the land within the city - gives a massive advantage. One of the main issues in the AI strategy is the continual striving to expand without the concept of consolidation. For example, the AI should build a number of cities (say 6-8) and then expand but with those core cities being improved at the same time. What it does instead is just keep those cities small by expanding way too much way too quickly. Also, an AI will attack another AI on its border without ever worrying that I am going to wipe that AI out from the other side, it just seems to be happy to wage war on everyone else without ever considering the strength of the monster on its doorstep and preparing for the onslaught I will bring. When I attack its only response is to bring all its defensivve units back to my side. Now the game is onyl interesting by making teams so that they are not allowed to attack each other. On hard the AI always initially agrees to a ceasefire but then, once that ceasfire has expired, unless the nature is 'peaceful' it will never agree to a proposed ceasefire again. What then happens is that when I start to wipe it out, it starts to offer a ceasefire of its own accord which just indicates that it has recognised that I am the stronger and it will be wiped out and can do nothing about it. There is no randomness to this strategy, if the AI thinks it is stronger it will in almost all events not offer nor accept a ceasefire after the first ceasefire, if it considers it is weaker it will start offering, but that just indicates it is beaten. The AI never has any units which can defend against Howitzers, even in cities, so building an army of howitzers with defensive units ahead of them is a sure fire way of winning. The AI has no conept of protection fo weaker units with stronger ones - for example, it will send out a spy without any protection and will allow a tramsport, with an attacking unit on it to sail the seas without any kind of protection. Also, the concept of multiple transfer doesnt seem to exist within teh AI, it will transport one unit over sea to attack a city that it has no chance of keeping hold of. The AI also has no concept of potential downside of attack, that unit will attack regardless. For example, a cruiser will kill an engineer even though, by doing so, it will have exposed itself to a submarine that will kill it. The AI builds unnecessary units - for example, the only units I build are as follows, all others are a waste of resources; Archers -> Musketeers -> Riflemen -> Mobile infantry (good defense allied with reasonable attack if needed) Catapult -> Cannons -> Artillery -> Howitzers (best land attackers - keep them defended and they win the game) Diplomats -> Spies (stops AI spies and gives info on AI city troop strengths) Submarines (the best units for sea, most cost efficient - can kill everything else on the sea & just need to be kept within a city for protection) Stealth fighters (best city based attackers - large area covered and very strong) Stealth bombers (best used for protection rather than attacking - howitzers are better for attacking, only used for attacking areas inaccessible to Howitzer) Helicopters (only for taking inaccessible cities such as islands or ice caps) Transports (only to transport troops before airlift is available - become obsolete soon) Battleship (rarely build these & only to protect transports). Settlers (only to build cities) Workers -> Engineers Caravan -> Freight (for further improving cities and returns) Explorer - great for exploring but v weak. Do not bother building; Horsemen/Chariot -> Knights -> Dragoons -> Cavalry -> Tanks - weak on attack and defense - their only advantage is speed Any sea vehicle except stated above - too weak on defense and attack. Fighter - too weak Bomber - too susceptible to fighters Awacs - waste of resources Carrier - weak unit needs massive support and so cost ineffiicient and too easy to lose Warriors - just a rubbish unit Phalanx - not much better Legion/Pikemen- slow and weak defensively Partisan/Alpine Troops - less cost efficient than rifleman who comes earlier. Marines - weak out of cities and not great in attack Paratroopers - same as Marines and arrive too late in the game when better units are available. Cruise missile - 1 shot wonder - waste of money. Nuclear - does too much damage to be any good